


I Will Always Find You

by bluecloudet



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Coach Viktor, Growing Up, M/M, Makkachin - Freeform, Soulmate AU, Soulmate boxes, They're trying so hard to find eachother, Your soulmate receives everything you lose, insecure yuuri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-03-29 07:17:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13922103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluecloudet/pseuds/bluecloudet
Summary: Yuuri gasped quietly, intrigued.  "Mama, how do you know if you have a soulmate? What if you wanna find them?""Whenever they lose something, it ends up with you. Even if you're across the world from eachother.  This is why I wanted to talk to you about this. Because I don't remember anyone ever buying you those toys over there." She jolted her head in the direction of the box near the wall.Yuuri's eyes widen at the realisation. Normally, he'd be mad if someone went through his box of magic things but after finding out the reason he has them, it didn't even matter anymore."MAMA! I have a soulmate?!""Unless you stole all of that from somewhere, yes."Yuuri and Viktor both grew up knowing they had a soulmate, but the only way to find out what kind of person the other person was, was through the things they lost or misplaced. A lot of people will never find their other half, but these pair are determined.





	1. ONE

Yuuri has been recieving tiny random objects. As a small child, before he started kindergarten, before he knew the reason he magically found things he's never seen before in his pockets or in his bed, he'd hide it. Yuuri thought this wasn't normal, that he has magic powers that could summon small nick knacks into his possession. 

That was up until he was six. His mother allowed him to move into a bigger bedroom, she moved his clothes and toys while he was at school, setting up his new room for him. That's when she found the cardboard box under his bed with a few strange toys, random crayons, pens, hair clips, socks, everything you could lose. 

Yuuri finally learnt what it all meant when he got home that day. 

"Yuuri, I want to talk to you about something before you go to the rink." She was sitting on the edge of Yuuri's new bed. Yuuri joined her, feeling dread in his stomach. 'Oh no, she knows I was the one who spilled all of the orange juice this morning,' Yuuri thought. He prepared for the lecture. "Do you know what a soulmate is?"

He wasn't expecting that. "Yuuko was talking about it at school. She said she thinks Nishigori-san is her soulmate. Why?"

Hiroko smiled kindly. "Maybe he is, Yuuri. They'll figure it out. Not everyone has a soulmate, the majority of the population doesn't. But if you have a soulmate, it means they're very very special to you Yuuri, no matter what, for your whole life today. You'll love them and they'll love you unconditionally."

"Unconditionally?"

"That means no matter what. It means no matter what they do or how they act, you'll still love them. They'll be the most important person to you in the world."

Yuuri gasped quietly, intrigued. "Mama, how do you know if you have a soulmate? What if you wanna find them?"

"Whenever they lose something, it ends up with you. Even if you're across the world from eachother. This is why I wanted to talk to you about this. Because I don't remember anyone ever buying you those toys over there." She jolted her head in the direction of the box near the wall. 

Yuuri's eyes widen at the realisation. Normally, he'd be mad if someone went through his box of magic things but after finding out the reason he has them, it didn't even matter anymore. 

"MAMA! I have a soulmate?!"

"Unless you stole all of that from somewhere, yes." Yuuri and his mother were both wearing massive grins. Hiroko was so happy that her son had a soulmate. Nobody else in her family did. 

"Does my soulmate have all of my lost toys? Mama! What if they have my poodle plushie? That was my favourite..." 

Hiroko sighed. She remembered that plushie. Yuuri wanted to take it with him everywhere, even swimming. He's only recently gotten used to sleeping without it. He used to decorate the poodle with ribbons and bows. "Maybe they'll give it back to you when you finally meet." She said. 

"I can give them back their toys too! I bet they miss their toys." Yuuri pouted and kicked his legs back and forth. "My soulmate's bigger than me. I found they're t-shirt and they're like, a hundred sizes bigger than my shirts!" Yuuri held out his arms to emphasise his point and giggled. "I think my soulmate's a boy. Their clothes are boys' clothes. But they also have hairclips and some of them have butterlies on them so I don't know!"

Hiroko laughed and patted Yuuri on the back, he was starting to get himself worked up. "You'll figure it out, Yuuri. You're only six. You have all the time in the world! Now, are you going to the ice rink with Yuuko?"

Yuuri seemed to suddenly realise that he had plans for the afternoon. He jumped up. "I have to tell Yuuko all about this!"  
"I'll walk you there, let's go,"

 

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

 

Viktor Nikiforov has always known what a soulmate was, even before he knew he had one. So the day he first found a random foam block in his pocket was probably the happiest day of his life that he can remember.

Only his babysitter, Yulia was home with him that day and when he told her she first asked him to make sure that it isn't just from one of his building sets. But he was positively certain that it wasn't. He doesn't own soft building blocks, only connecting ones. 

"Are you going to be a good soulmate, Vitenka?" The babysitter asked. 

Viktor stood with his back straight and his chest puffed out. "Yes! I'll be the bestest soulmate! So much that I'll be famous!" Yulia laughed at that and finished putting away Vitkor's toys. Viktor held the block close to his chest. 

"I want a special secret place to put my soulmate's things. So nobody can ever steal them." Viktor announced after a few moments of silence. 

"People normally have a box, either just a plain cardboard one or a pretty one, it's up to you."

"I want to make it a very important box that's really beautiful," Viktor decided. 

"I don't doubt that at all."

And Viktor did make a beautiful box. He used a large wooden box, with a lid and a padlock. He decorated it with hearts and every colour of the rainbow and he never let anyone see what's inside- not even his parents. Everyone who knew him knew not to mess with his soulmate box. 

Not that they could mess with it anyway, he hid it in his most secret hiding place; the back of his closet. With all his board games and lego boxes stacked around and on top of it. That made it impossible for anyone to find, because he wasn't gonna let anyone near his board games unless he was there. He even tied a skipping rope around the handles of the closet and in his four-and-a-half year old mind, that meant it was basically impenetrable.

Viktor was proud of this achievement and excited to find his soulmate in the future.


	2. TWO

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri recieves a beanie that is his new favourite thing to wear and Viktor finds something else important to finding out what type of person his soulmate is.

“YUUKO LOOK WHAT I HAVE!” Yuuri basically screamed as he hurried into their classroom the next morning. 

Yuuko looked up from where she was sorting her coloured pencils, startled at the loud interruption. 

Yuuri reached her and pulled a dark red beanie out of his jacket pocket. 

“I like your new hat, Yuuri,” Yuuko said politely after receiving no explanation. 

“I found it in my bag on the way to school this morning. You know what that means, Yuuko?” Yuuri rambled excitedly. Yuukos expression slowly changed from confusion to understanding and finally to delight. 

“YUURI!” She recieved a stern look from the teacher and lowered her voice. “You have a soulmate? That hat belongs to your soulmate? When did you find out? Do you know who they are? What kind of things do they lose?” 

Yuuri giggled and hid the beanie back into his jacket pocket. He answered all of Yuukos questions the best he could. 

Later that day, after school finished, Yuuri walked with Yuuko and Takeshi straight to the ice castle. Takeshi teases him for wearing the red beanie that so obviously didn’t match his school uniform. Even when they arrived and Yuuri changed into his favourite blue sweater and comfortable pants, he still kept the red hat on his head. 

Yuuko took ice skating pretty seriously. She was always working hard on new spins and she could even skate really fast, backwards! Yuuri loved to join her when he skated but he only did it for fun. So far he could do a bunny hop and a really simple spin, but he didn’t mind. It was just a fun thing to do. 

Though Yuuri sometimes didn’t like when Yuuko brought Takeshi to the rink. Yuuko was YUURIS best friend and even though Takeshi was her soulmate, sometimes she paid too much attention to him and not Yuuri. Takeshi very often teases Yuuri when he tries to do fast spins and he even pushes him to make him fall sometimes. 

Once Yuuri had enough of trying to ignore Takeshis relentless teasing and just broke down in tears. “It’s just a joke!” Takeshi had said but Yuuri wasn’t listening. Yuuko had noticed what was happening and sped over to them from the other side of the rink. She had stopped talking to Takeshi until the next day when he apologised to Yuuri. Yuuri was glad that Yuuko could stand up to her soulmate for him. 

Later on, when Yuuri got home, he immediately ran ustairs to his new room and added the beanie to his soulmate box. He had quite a collection now. His heart got all warm and he felt pure happiness whenever he looked at it. 

He was still coming to terms with the fact that he had a person somewhere in the world who was born to be with him and love him. Just like he was born to love them. He didn’t know them yet but he felt like he loved them already. 

He went to sleep that night smiling and content. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Yakov...” Viktor gasped one day at skating practice. Yakov Feltsman turned around. He knew that tone of voice. That’s the the tone of wonder and amazement whenever Viktor recieved anything particularly special from his soulmate. 

“Vitya! You should be warming up!” He scolded, but his efforts were futile. Viktor, ten years old, stood on the ice holding a piece of paper, stars in his eyes and completely ignoring his coach. 

Yakov just gave up. “What is it?” He asked, defeated. He massaged his temples to try and help an oncoming headache.

Viktor still wasn’t paying attention. He was too entranced by what was in front of him. It was a school worksheet, probably homework. He couldn’t understand it because it was all in a different language, maybe somewhere in Asia? 

But it looked like it was homework for handwriting, the writing on it was pretty messy and childlike. Viktor already knew his soulmate was younger than him, approximately four years, but this was just adorable. 

He could see his soulmate’s handwriting, his soulmate had touched and written on this very page that Viktor was holding and the thought made Viktor feel overwhelming happiness spread from his chest to the tips of his fingers and toes. 

Viktor folded the sheet of paper again, carefully and put it in his pocket. A different pocket, one with a zipper on it so there was no chance that it would fall out. 

Now Yakov felt pretty glad that Viktor recieved something so important today. It put him in such a good mood that he obeyed Yakov’s instructions much more regularly, and he didn’t let his mistakes put him in a bad mood for the rest of the day. 

Yakov wouldn’t really say that Viktor was skating anymore, he was floating on the ice. He was pleased that whoever Viktor’s soulmate was could give him such a positive influence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn’t expecting to update so early, but I already had a chapter written. Please tell me what you think!
> 
> They’ll be a lot older in the next chapter. By older, I mean in their teens. Look forward to it soon!


	3. THREE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri being a massive fanboy and Viktor trying to find a way to get closer to his soulmate.

Yuui raised his eyebrows at Yuuko as she hurried into the ice rink one day- an hour late. Yuuri had been doing spins and playing on the ice with some of the younger kids who lived in the town. 

"You decided to show up!" He called playfully, not so annoyed anymore after seeing what she had in her hand. He hurried across the ice towards her and reached his hands out to take the magazine from her, she automatically handed it to him and turned away to put on her skates. 

This was the newest skating magazine. Yuuri ran his fingers over the picture on the front cover, a picture of Viktor Nikiforov, a handsome boy with long, flowy, silver hair. He was holding his poodle puppy, Makkachin. Yuuri ALWAYS made sure to read every single one for a chance to read more about his figure skating idol. A lot of the time there were articles with monologues from interviews translated into English, or Japanese if he was lucky. If he was luckier, Viktor Nikiforov would do interviews in English so Yuuri could watch it straight away. Yuuri was proud to say that he was finally almost fluent in that language. 

When Yuuri first found Viktor Nikiforov, he was mesmerised. Star stuck. Every time he came on the television, Yuuri can never take his eyes away. Viktor was probably the most beautiful person on the ice. He skated like his body controlling the music, rather than the music controlling his body. When Yuuri first found Viktor, he made a huge decision. He was going to get better at skating and one day, he'll skate on the same ice as Viktor Nikiforov. He wanted to meet him have Viktor see him as a fellow competitor, not as a fan. 

So Yuuri started taking skating so much more seriously. He started practising English, because he knows that Viktor knows English and he wanted them to at least understand each other when he finally met his inspiration. Yuuri once tried learning Russian, but some of the words were too difficult for him to pronounce. And it was even more difficult since there were no Russian classes in Hasetsu. He was so disappointed that he can't learn the language, it's really important to him. Not because of Viktor Nikiforov, but because of his soulmate.

He knew his soulmate was from Russia, the pages of Cyrillic writing really gave it away, but Yuuri could never understand it. Thankfully, his soulmate was also practising English. Yuuri was so relieved to find a Russian to English dictionary one day, because that meant that they were both practising English!

Yuuri smiled warmly at the thought. His soulmate has never failed to make him happy before and they've never really done anything except for losing their things in places. Yuuri can just imagine it; in the future, Yuuri and his soulmate living happily together in their own house. They'd never really lose anything then. If one of them lost something, they could just ask the other one for it back. 

Yuuri was pulled out of his thoughts when Yuuko skated up behind him and yanked the magazine out of his hands. She smirked, "Are you going to come and skate, lover boy?"

Yuuri's face flushed red at the name. "I have a soulmate! I'm not..." He faltered at the sceptical look on Yuuko's face and gave up. He couldn't deny to her that he had at least a tiny crush on the Russian. 

"Mmm. His new poodle's cute though. I want a poodle of my own now!" Yuuko whined and Yuuri felt something in his chest that he couldn't explain. HE wanted urgently wanted a poodle now, not Yuuko. Yuuko already has a cat. She can't have a poodle because that would make her more like Viktor than Yuuri was and Yuuri wasn't having that. She was already better than him at figure skating. 

"I'm going to ask my parents if I can have a poodle. It'd be nice to have a dog around the inn, don't you think?" Yuuri said after a moment. He wanted to tell Yuuko to get a different dog, but he didn't say it out loud because he didn't want to be mean and bossy. 

"Yes, Yuuri!" Yuuko cheered. She dropped the magazine off to the side of the rink, and Yuuri went to grab for it again but before he could, Yuuko grabbed his hands and pulled him across the ice at a high speed. 

"YUUKO, CAREFUL!" 

That night Yuuri sat his parents down and discussed the possibility of getting a poodle. 

"Yuuri, if we get one, you'd be responsible for it. You'll feed it, walk it, bathe it and everything." Yuuri's mother said seriously. 

"I'm willing to do that, Mama. It'll teach me to be more responsible. Please, can I get one?" 

"Why a poodle specifically?"

"Because... Viktor Nikiforov has one and it's so cute. It made me want one really badly."

Yuuri's parents exchanged looks for a moment before answering him. "We'll have a think about it." 

"Thank you, thank you!" Yuuri grinned, excited that he might be getting a new friend. 

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"Yakov, have you seen my earphones? Do you know if I had them when I got in the car?" Viktor asked. He was sitting in the backseat of Yakov's car with Georgi sitting in the passenger seat. 

"You lost them? Aren't they your new ones?" Yakov replied without turning his eyes away from the road ahead of them.

"Uhh..." 

"That soulmate of yours must have a collection of earphones by now. Be more careful Viktor." Viktor couldn't help but smile a bit at that. His soulmate will never need to buy earphones again at this rate, and he was pleased to be the reason for that. He knows that his soulmate has never lost anything of his, otherwise Viktor will find it again. 

His soulmate loses the strangest things. It's quite endearing. He loses typical things, like pens, erasers, socks, shoes (that must frustrate the poor guy). He's lost various articles of clothing and it's so cute that his clothes are much smaller than Viktor's. Then there were times when he lost weirder stuff, like a bag of chips or an entire lamp. It was a cute lamp, it had polka dots and it was the only thing Viktor didn't add to his soulmate box. No, he replaced his bedside lamp with it and he loved it so much. It even had little stickers around the bottom, some looked like someone attempted unsuccessfully to peel off and left ripped white stuff, that was more difficult to remove. 

"Viktor, do you ever try to deliberately lose things? Like, things you want your soulmate to have?" Georgi asked. He was sitting in his seat, the top half of his body twisted around to talk to Viktor. 

"Yes! But it's really hard to! Because I can't lose it if I keep thinking about it, I'm too conscious of where I put it all the time." Viktor pouted. "I want to be able to choose what stuff he receives. Life is so unfair, Georgiiiiiii!" 

"Viktor, how old are you?" Yakov asked. 

"Umm, sixteen."

"Stop whinging and act like it." 

Viktor tried to glare at Yakov but Yakov wasn't looking at him, he was too busy driving. Meanwhile, Georgi was trying to contain his laugh. 

"It's not funny, Georgi, stop laughing at my pain!" Viktor whined. Georgi broke and was now laughing out loud. "Why do you always have to laugh when I get scolded?" 

"It's... it's just so funny... The look on your FACE!" Georgi gasped between his giggles. Viktor rolled his eyes. 

Eventually Georgi calmed down enough to speak properly. "How about you write your soulmate something and I'll take it from you and leave it somewhere? That way you won't know where it is, you're basically losing it, right?" 

It's amazing how Viktor can be annoyed at Georgi, and the next minute, he's thanking the heavens for his existence. "YES! I want to try it!" Viktor's heart was pounding against his rib cage at the idea. He really hoped this would work.

"Let's try after practise today."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of the nice comments! They make me so happy!! I wasn't expecting to update so often but here I am hahah


	4. FOUR

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor writes his letter and Yuuri gets a new puppy.

"I don't know what to write now!" Viktor said to Georgi with a huff. Georgi was sitting on Viktor's bed in his dorm room, waiting for Viktor to write his letter, sitting at his desk with a pen ready in his hand. 

"How about your name, age, address, phone number, email-"

"I've already written that." Viktor interrupted. "I can finally tell him everything I've wanted to tell him for as long as I can remember, but I just don't know where to start." 

"Oh, that's always a problem." Georgi thought for a moment. "How about 'Hello, I'm your soulmate and I've been really obsessed with you since you were born and I cry about your homework!'" Viktor turned to him, a look of horror on his face. 

"I can't say that! What if it freaks him out?" He cried. He turned back to his letter and tapped his pen against it. After another moment he suddenly turned back again. "And I do NOT cry about his homework!" 

Georgi smiled knowingly. "You think you're being subtle about it but we all notice that sometimes when you get his homework you disappear into the locker rooms for ten minutes and come back out with red, teary eyes." Viktor choked. "It also happens with his drawings." 

Viktor frowned and turned back to his desk. "I'm not talking to you now." 

"Oh what a shame... How are you going to 'lose' your letter now? What a tragedy, you'll never find each other, oh my poor heart-" 

"No, I was joking, come back." Viktor laughed a bit at how dramatic Georgi was. "Do you really think this would work?" 

"Umm, I don't know. It's just a theory I have." 

"I really hope your theory is correct."

Viktor looked at the sentence on his page so far. It read; 'I've been looking you for years.' He narrowed his eyes at the mistake. Since he couldn't erase it, he just scrunched it up and threw it in the general direction of the wastebasket. 

"Hurry up, Viktor! I'm supposed to have dinner with Anya and her friends." Georgi stretched out on the bed and plucked a fashion magazine off of the floor. He started to lazily flick through the pages. 

Viktor furrowed his eyebrows and got to work on composing the best letter he's ever written. It's the least his dear soulmate deserved. 

'Dear soulmate. If you found this, then it's the best achievement that I've ever accomplished in my life. My name is Viktor Nikiforov...'

 

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

 

"Yuuri!" 

Yuuri turned down his music to hear his mother who had just interrupted him from cleaning his room. "Yes!?" He called back. 

After no reply for a solid fifteen seconds, he just dropped the clothes he was folding onto his bed and walked downstairs to see what she wanted. He found her with his father and sister in the family dining area. "You called me?" 

They all smiled. "We got you a present, Yuuri." Mari said. 

Yuuri finally noticed a box behind them, about the size of his soulmate box. He thought he had an idea of what it was. "Is it what I think it is?" He tried to fight back a grin. 

"I don't know... You'll just have to open it and see." 

That's all Yuuri needed to hear before he rushed over and opened the lid of the cardboard box. Inside, was a tiny sleeping puppy, with soft, brown, curly fur. Yuuri went still, not wanting to move too much in case he disturbed the sweet puppy and the biggest grin stretched over his face. 

A moment passed, Yuuri didn't move and everyone was silent, trying to see his reaction but failing since he was turned away from them. 

"Yuuri?" 

Suddenly a loud sob echoed through the room, Yuuri turned around to face them, in tears, but smiling brightly. 

"You ACTUALLY got me a poodle!" Yuuri exclaimed. 

Mari raised an eyebrow. "And that's a good thing, right? Because I don't know if I can tell whether you're happy or devastated." 

Yuuri only nodded vigorously, completely overwhelmed. His heart felt so fragile right now with the love and cuteness. 

He ran over to hug his family, thanking them until it became repetitive before creeping back to the box. His new puppy was awake now, probably disturbed from it's sleep by all the commotion. Yuuri very carefully reached in and pulled the puppy into his arms, holding the small creature near his neck. 

"It's a boy." Hiroko said. "What are you going to name it?" 

Yuuri didn't have to think about it too much. "Viktor." 

 

Later, in Yuuri's room, he set up a tiny bed for his new puppy, Viktor. Yuuri's mother had immediately taken to calling him 'Vicchan'. The puppy seemed happy in his new home already. 

Yuuri changed into his pyjamas, and routinely checked his pockets, like every other night, before throwing his clothes int the laundry basket. He found a flower crown and a piece of paper. 

He put the flower crown into his soulmate box and sat next to, smoothing out the paper, to see what was written. He was glad that it was in English, it made it easier to read. It didn't say much, but it still made his heart jump at the thought of it being directed towards him. 

'I've been looking you for years.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh heh heh. 
> 
> How do you feel about that?


	5. FIVE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor's letter didn't get to his soulmate and Yuuri turns thirteen.

Viktor was interrupted during his warm-ups in practise one day by Georgi. "Viktor? Will you come here, I got something for you..." 

"What is it?" Viktor asked from the floor as Georgi approached with a sheet of paper in his hand. He raised his eyebrows. 

"I'm sorry, Viktor." The paper was in Viktors hands now, he unfolded it and his heart sank when he saw what was on it. It was the letter he wrote to his soulmate about two weeks ago as an experiment. 

Viktor narrowed his eyes at Georgi. "I thought you said you'd hide it from me and forget about it." 

"I did!" Georgi insisted. "I thought it'd work, but like, I was cleaning and I found it again. I think it's because I was the one who lost it, not you." 

'Ughhhh!" Viktor groaned and buried his face in his hands, feeling helpless. Of course he couldn't find a way to communicate with his soulmate when nobody else in history ever achieved it. He felt stupid for thinking he was better than everyone else who tried. "What do I do now, Chris? What if I never meet him? I want to know everything about him." 

"I don't know, Viktor. The only thing I can think of now is putting your name on everything in Russian, English and whatever his language is, then hope he'll reach out." 

"He speaks Japanese, Georgi. Get it right." 

"Since when did you know that?!" Georgi huffed and joined Viktor on the ground to do stretches. 

"Since I'm his soulmate, it's my responsibility to know these things." 

"Yeah yeah... You didn't know his nationality a week ago. Just that he's Asian."

"I looked on the internet, I'm certain that his writing is Japanese." Viktor flashed a confident grin before reaching over for his bag to grab his skates. 

"Well I'm glad. So now you can read what his name is?" At this statement, Viktor's shoulders sagged. 

"I really want to but Japanese is so confusing! I've been working on it but I can't read anything yet. They have like, two alphabets! I don't even know the difference between them, and there are so many letters? Syllables in them. I don't think I could ever figure out how to read it." Viktor tugged the lace on his skate a bit too hard, wincing before loosening it again. 

"You don't need to read to be able to read everything in a language just to figure out the name you know." 

"I know, but I don't know how to sound it out!" 

"Alright, alright! Don't get hysterical about it, Viktor! You have the rest of your life to figure this out." They were both standing now, Viktor wearing his skates and slipping on his gloves. 

"Not our WHOLE lives! I want to find him as soon as possible. I don't want to wait another sixteen years not knowing, I want to have as much time as I can possibly get to live out my life with him." With that, Viktor strode over to the ice with purpose, took off his skate guards and slammed them on the barrier before stepping onto the ice and doing a lap around the edge of the rink. 

Georgi was left standing there, bewildered. After a moment, his heart warmed and he smiled softly. "Viktor! That's so ROMANTIC!" He called. 

"GET TO WORK, POPOVICH!" Yakov bellowed. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Yuuri was filled with content, swimming in the waves at the beach in Hasetsu, the warmth of the sun mixing with the sweet coolness of the water around him creating the perfect feeling. There were fish around his feet, coming to say hi and offering their friendship. Soon enough there was an octopus there too. "Do you want some icecream?" The octopus asked him. 

"Yuuri..." Another voice called gently. Yuuri ignored it and focused on his new octopus friend. 

"Yes, how do you make octopus icecream?" He asked, genuinely curious. 

"Well you see..." The friendly octopus replied but he was interrupted.

"Yuuri!" The octopus disappeared and Yuuri wasn't in water anymore. "Yuuri, wake up."

Yuuri was jolted awake and realised he was in his room, with Vicchan cuddled in his arms and Mari grasping his shoulder, having shaken him awake. 

"Happy birthday, Yuuri!" Mari and their parents both exclaimed. Yuuri, still a bit sleepy squinted at them for a moment before his sister handed him his glasses. His parents were both standing in the entrance to his room, beaming at him. 

"Come downstairs and eat your breakfast, we've got you a present." Yuuri's father said before leaving, his mother and sister following after him. 

Downstairs his family had prepared him some breakfast and some extra sweets in his bento for school. Yuuris father came into the room while Yuuri was eating to sit next to him, pushing a box onto the table and smiling. 

"You couldn't wait to give it to him until after breakfast?" Hiroko asked sternly. But her stern look quickly faded into a smile of affection. 

Yuuri set his bowl aside for a minute anyway to open the box. Inside was a new pair of shiny black ice skates and skate guards with poodles and flowers on them. "Thank you so much!" Yuuri grinned, voice giddy with happiness. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Vicchan, sensing his master's happiness jumped up and bark, tail wagging at the speed of light. Yuuri scooped him up after hugging both of his parents. 

"Well, you're thirteen now, and if you're really determined to become a world famous figure skater, we'll support you. But we also want you to have a back up plan for if it doesn't work out, so you'll have another career to fall back on." 

Yuuri looked thoughtful for a minute, nodding. Then, he stood up. "Well, I'm going to be late for class if I don't go now. Thank you so much for the skates!" 

"No problem, Yuuri!" 

 

After Yuuri set himself up at his desk before class that morning, he was shocked by a hand coming around from behind him with a cupcake. The cupcake had a single lit candle on it. The The cupcake was set down on his desk before the owner of the hand came around in front of him. It was Yuuko. 

"Happy birthday, Yuuri! Make a wish and blow out the candle!" Yuuko said. 

"Yuuko, you didn't have to do this! At least, not now! Class starts in like, three minutes!" 

"Then hurry up and blow it out, silly!" Yuuko shook her head, big grin on her face. "I'll put the cupcake in a container and you can have it after school."

Yuuri grinned back at her. "You're so sweet, Yuuko."

"Quick! Wish, wish!"

"I wish-" 

"Not out loud! It won't come true then." 

"Oh, okay." Yuuri closed his eyes and wished. He wished with all of his heart that he could skate on the same ice as Viktor one day and maybe become his friend. A smaller, much more hopeful part of him fantasised that maybe Viktor Nikiforov could be his soulmate. Because if he was, Yuuri wouldn't need anymore wishes for the rest of his life. 

He blew out the candle. 

"Yuuri, is that a new coat? It looks a little big on you, but you look adorable in it." Yuuko asked. 

Yuuri buried the bottom half of his face into the collar of his newly acquired coat and smiled. 

"Oh, nevermind. I know it belongs to your soulmate." Yuuko grinned again and went back to her seat. 

Even if Yuuri's soulmate WASN'T Viktor Nikiforov, he would certainly still adore them, even more than he adores Viktor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been so busy with school and not having internet at my house that I haven't had the chance to update as often as I'd like. I'm probably going to have a huge time jump from the next chapter, because there's gonna be more drama and it's not going to be when they're in their teens and don't know eachother. So strap in for that!!
> 
> If you guys want it, I'm thinking of having a seperate fic for just oneshots based as they're growing up if you want more cute content. I mean, the rest of this fic is going to be CUTE AS, but there'll also be a little angst and other elements too, so be excited! 
> 
> This fic hasn't been proof-read, so let me know of any errors, also, if you want to come talk to me more about this fic, my tumblr is @gravityviolet  
> I'm willing to talk to more people so if you need someone to screech with about fandom-related things, hmu. 
> 
> THANK YOU FOR READING SO FAR!


	6. SIX

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri’s in Detroit living with Phichit, Phichit helps find his best friend’s soulmate with his master stalking skills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I’d update last weekend, but I spent a whole lot of time with my younger cousins and just sleeping. 
> 
> Good news though!! I have internet back at my house, I currently have no school assignments and I’m also on holidays so I have a whole lot of time on my hands to write more.

Yuuri loved Phichit Chulanont, he really did- they were best friends, roommates, always there for each other. But then there were times like this when Phichit would go over the top. 

Phichit told Yuuri that he wanted some hamsters, Yuuri told him to go for it. But when Yuuri came back from class the day Phichit bought his new hamsters, he expects two or three tiny balls of fluff. Not nine. 

Yuuri dumped his bag onto his bed and moved closer to the cage. “Uh... Do you know if you’re even allowed this many hamsters, Phichit? That’s a lot of food to buy...”

“But YUURI! You should have seen them all- you’re lucky I only bought nine to be completely honest, I just couldn’t resist their cute little faces.” 

“I should have come with you to the pet store.” 

“You’re right.” Phichit sighed. He noticed something sticking out of the side pocket of Yuuri’s bag and sat straighter. “Yuuri, is that from your soulmate?” Yuuri whirled around and reached for his bag. 

Phichit moved over from his computer chair to get a closer look. “It’s... a can of hairspray. That won’t help my quest to find who your soulmate is, you know. Tell him to lose his drivers license or something, Yuuri!” Phichit huffed and dragged his feet back to his desk, pulling up a file on his laptop. 

“It’s a Russian brand though.” Yuuri supplies helpfully, pulling his soulmate box from under his bed and adding it. He had to get a larger one because the amount of things that’s been lost by his soulmate. Yuuri doesn’t think he loses nearly as much. 

“Yeah, but we already know he’s Russian!” Phichit exclaimed as he typed furiously on his laptop. 

“You’re still adding it to the list though, as if it’ll help discover his identity.” 

“Every detail counts!” Since Yuuri moved to Detroit and started living with Phichit, Phichit had made it his mission to become The World’s Greatest Detective and find out who Yuuri’s soulmate is once and for all. 

Yuuri was actually glad that Phichit was a good person, otherwise he’d be a force to be reckoned with, his stalking skills could be up there with the mafia. Although he hasn’t had much luck with this particular case, most of the things Yuuri’s soulmate loses could be lost by anyone. Some are more telling. 

“How does hairspray help your manhunt, Phichit?” Yuuri asked as he put his laptop on charge and settled on his bed with it. 

“Not much... just tells that he cares about how he looks, but that’s also something that the mascara and nail polish could have told us, so no progress.” 

Yuuri would probably think his soulmate is a girl, especially when they were younger, but nail polish and mascara are just about the some of the only things that could be considered “girly”. Yuuri likes that about his soulmate, the fact that this guy doesn’t care much for gender roles and feels free to do whatever he wants.

Phichit had used this information and more to find his soulmate somewhere on the internet, Yuuri was glad that he was an expert when it came to social media, he had even made Yuuri an Instagram account that Yuuri didn’t use often. The main purpose of his Instagram was so Phichit could tag him in all of his photos of them together. 

Yuuri was interrupted from his thoughts by his roommate. “I think he’s a Russian figure skater. He skates competitively and he’s pretty successful, he has a dog and he probably looks really handsome... he likes Little Mix? And he seems pretty rich with all these designer clothes you’ve been receiving, if that jacket he lost last year were a little smaller, it’d look so good on you! And people would be wondering how a broke university student like you could afford such high class fashion.”

“I get it Phichit, he’s always been a size bigger than me.” Yuuri laughed. 

“What if he’s your future husband?” Pichit asked, wriggling his eyebrows. 

“Of course he is Phichit! He’s my soulmate!” Yuuri gave him a strange look.

“No, no. I mean your HUSBAND.” Pichit’s eyes flicked meaningly to the poster above Yuuri’s head and Yuuri felt his face become an oven. 

“N-no! Viktor’s not my husband! I just admire his skating, I look up to him, you know this!” 

“Mm. But Yuuri, my dear friend. This description of your soulmate fits perfectly with Viktor Nikiforov.”

“Phichit no, don’t even joke about that. There are so many people in Russia who does competitive figure skating, Viktor has never mentioned having a soulmate and even if he IS mine, it wouldn’t work. He’s the best figure skater ever and I’m just me.” Yuuri avoided Phichit’s eyes and busied himself with his laptop, pretending to do schoolwork. 

“Yuuri! Don’t put yourself down like that! I won’t let it! You’re Japan’s best figure skater you know! And with Ciao Ciao’s help, you have a chance to finally skate on the same ice as Viktor! You are so close to living your dream and if you were just mediocre as you say you are, you wouldn’t have gotten here! I believe in you!” 

Yuuri couldn’t fight back his smile at that, his face warmed up again. “Phichit...” He took a deep breath. “Thank you, I... that means a lot. But even if I do get to the Grand Prix, doesn’t mean I’ll be Viktor’s equal, it doesn’t mean I’m Viktor’s soulmate.” 

“I know it’s most likely not Viktor but you know, if he just happens to be it, you guys were made for each other, skating probably won’t even be part of the equation.” 

“I know, I just can’t help thinking about that though.” Yuuri sighed sadly. 

“I know... and I’m here for you.” Phichit suddenly remembered what he was doing on his computer. He clapped his hands together, lifting the damp mood from the room. “I’ve made a list of possible suspects and there are quite a few. Let’s take a look, maybe you’d feel something when you see him, who knows.” 

Yuuri smiled again and dragged his desk chair over next to Phichit’s. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter didn’t have Viktor in it, but the next one will make up for it, I promise!


	7. SEVEN

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor takes an impromptu holiday in order to feel closer to his soulmate and Phichit tries to discuss something with Yuuri.

Viktor sighed happily as he wheeled his suitcase through his front door, locking it behind him. Makkachin was panting at his side as he strode down the hall to the elevator.

He pulled out his phone and dialled Yuri Plisetsky, a small boy that trains under Yakov as well. He's fourteen years old though he looks about eleven and he's very short tempered and rude. Viktor knows that that's just his way of showing his love... maybe. 

The phone picked up on Viktor's second attempt at calling, he heard a long groan from the other side. "What? You were supposed to be here half an hour ago, what's your excuse you old fucker?" 

"Aw don't be like that. I'll call your grandpa again and tell him about your attitude. What happened to the sweet little boy with the bowl cut?"

"We do NOT talk about that! I'll skin you-" Before he could finish the phone was taken off Yuri and Yakov spoke. 

"Why are you late?"

"Oh yeah!" Viktor exclaimed as he realised. "I forgot to tell you! I won't be at practise for a few days, I decided to take a holiday. Sorry Yakov."

"WHY are you like this!? What made you decide this so out of the blue?" Yakov's voice was slowly rising in volume as he spoke. 

"Because, I've been so drained and I want a change. So I'm going to Japan for a bit to uh... chill."

"You know, you can't just go to Japan and hope to just come across your soulmate no matter how many times you try. How are you going to find one person out of one hundred million when you don't know what he looks like or where he lives? It's next to impossible." 

Viktor was silent for a moment before replying, "Maybe I want to know his culture better and feel closer to him, work on my Japanese while I'm there. Because I doubt I'll be able to speak with him with Russian or English." 

"You're an idiot. I'll let you go only because maybe you'll learn from your mistakes because you certainly don't learn from me telling you." 

"Thank you so much, Yakov! Also can I ask another favour?" Yakov grunted and Viktor went on. "Can you or Yuri look after Makkachin? I don't want to take him on such a long flight and-" 

"Fine. Drop him off at the rink." Yakov said curtly and then the line went dead. Viktor smiled and walked the short distance to the rink, dragging his suitcase behind him with Makkachin following on a leash. When he arrived, Yuri was standing near the doors, with his skates on and his arms crossed. He took Makkachin's leash.

"Thank you, Yuri! I need to be quick to catch my flight, is Yakov in there?" 

"Yes, but he's helping Georgi with his triple salchow. Give me the keys to your apartment." 

Viktor's eyes snapped from the rink behind Yuri to Yuri's face. "What?" 

"You heard me. I want the keys to your apartment." He held his hand out. 

"But why? Is it so you can watch my anime?" Viktor smirked and Yuri flushed bright red. 

'N-no! So I can- can get away from those losers," He jerked his head towards the Russian skaters behind him who seemed to be forming a train and speeding around the rink while Yakov was preoccupied with Georgi. 

"OH, okay. But you don't have to be ashamed of liking anime you know, I have all of Sailor Moon on disc, I know you like that one, so feel free to watch it. Just don't destroy anything in my home." Viktor handed Yuri his keys. 

"I DON'T LIKE ANIME." Yuri all but screamed, earning a few glances from people nearby. He patted his leg to get Makkachin to follow him back towards the rink and Viktor rolled his eyes. 

"Sure!"

 

 

Viktor had a great week in Japan, he got to taste things he's only ever heard about before and he saw almost everything there is to see in Tokyo and the surrounding area. He even went to mount Fuji on a tour bus with a whole bunch of other foreign tourists, a lot of which are fans. The news that he spent time in Japan had spread across the globe by now with all the selfies he had taken with multiple people. While he did run into a lot of fans, for the most part, his holiday was relaxing and nice. 

He got back to his apartment at perhaps one in the morning to find the TV turned on but mute, on it was the credits to some show. There were takeout boxes on the coffee table and when Viktor looked into his spare room, Yuri was there on the bed, dead to the world. He had fallen asleep in his clothes with Makkachin draped across his back.

Viktor just smiled and went back to his room, he took a shower and went to bed. Even though he didn't find his soulmate, he was still feeling energised and ready for the Grand Prix final that was coming up. He wanted to make the most of it and make his sweet soulmate proud.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Phichit was awake and waiting for Yuuri when he got home from a late practise. Yuuri came through the door, with his training bag slung over his shoulder and aching muscles, ready for a hot shower and some sleep, but instead was greeted by Phichit and some vanilla slice. 

"Yuuri, sit down for a sec, I have some good news." Yuuri sat down and Phichit put the plate of cheescake in his lap along with a fork. 

"What's this for? I can't eat this you know, I have to watch my weight." Yuuri said but picked up the fork anyway. Phichit smiled. 

"Have you seen Viktor's Instagram?" 

"No, he posted something but I haven't gotten a chance to look at it." Yuuri dug his phone out of his bag and unlocked it, tapping on the notification that says that Viktor Nikiforov posted. There was over forty photos of Viktor doing all different things in Tokyo, all posted at once and Yuuri grinned. 

"He went to Japan! What a cutie." He beamed and Phichit smiled too. 

"What a pity you were in America though, you could have seen him," 

"Yeah... Maybe I can see him at the finals, if I skate well enough."

"You can meet him at the finals regardless of how you skate there you know, it's a big thing just to GET to the finals, so I think you're on his level by now!"

"Pfft, no, I'd have to medal to even get the courage to go near him. He's probably never heard of me in his life." 

When Phichit glared at him and opened his mouth to argue, Yuuri hastily changed the subject. "What's that news that you were going to tell me?" 

"Oh yeah! I think I know who your soulmate is."

Yuuri paused, with a forkful of cheesecake halfway to his mouth. "Who?" 

"Viktor Nikiforov."

"No."

"Really though, you've been getting things that Viktor Nikiforov would own. We've already deduced that he's a Russian figure skater. Who else could it be? And Viktor Nikiforov also just went to Japan for seemingly no reason, maybe he was hoping to find a certain Japanese soulmate?"

"Stop. It's someone else, it can't be him."

"Why?"

"He just can't. He's on an entirely different level and he deserves someone who's as good as him." 

"But Yuuri, you're prefect-"

"STOP. I don't want to discuss this anymore. I'm taking a shower."

"Yuuri, please think about this." 

"Goodnight, Phichit." 

Yuuri closed the bathroom door behind him and tried to take a deep breath. It would be so nice to be Viktor's soulmate because it would be a dream come true, but Yuuri couldn't let himself hope, because he knew he'd be let down. If he was Viktor's soulmate, Viktor be disappointed because how could a mediocre Japanese skater ever compare to Russia's legendary gold medallist? Yuuri would rather have a different soulmate than have Viktor Nikiforov disappointed in him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guess who's back after a MONTH? me.   
> I said I'd update more but I'm not that reliable, I actually spent the rest of my holiday to do nothing productive and just relax, now I'm halfway through the next school term and I was like, I should update that fic that I was devoting myself to before. 
> 
> Keep an eye out on my account because I'll be writing that side fic that's just a collection of deleted scenes from when Viktor and Yuuri were growing up and also I'll be writing Viktor's holiday to Japan, so you can see more specifically how he spent his time, what he did ect. 
> 
> I really appreciate you all for reading this, every single one of you. Thank you! And also come talk to me on tumblr because I'd really like friends http://gravityviolet.tumblr.com/

**Author's Note:**

> I found a list of possible au ideas that I made a long time ago and decided to write this one. I don't remember how I came up with it or if I saw it somewhere on the internet, but if you find the prompt somewhere, let me know so I can link it :)


End file.
